EMEA unified comms market will double in size by 2014

The EMEA market for unified communications (UC) kit and services will double
in size by 2014, according to the latest figures from market watchers IDC.

With total sales in 2010 hitting $8bn (£5bn), IDC's analysts expect it to approach $16.6bn
within the next three years.

Despite the upbeat tone of the figures, IDC senior research analyst, UC and collaboration,
Isabel Montero, said this represented "moderate" year-on-year growth.

"[IDC] believes that the impact of the credit crunch across EMEA will continue to make
enterprises more cautious when deciding whether or not to invest in new IT equipment," she
said.

Added Montero: "Budgets in this region will continue to be more closely monitored, restricted or
delayed until recovery in the economy is more notable."

IDC's survey also revealed that hosted UC services will become more dominant over the forecast
period, with the trend being more notable among SMBs keen to outsource their communications in
order to save on network management and maintenance. Predictably, this will have a knock-on effect
on growth of cloud-based services.

Panic among legacy comms vendors will also take centre stage, said IDC, with firms keen to
improve interoperability and compatibility likely to embark on a new M&A surge.

Montero added that many vendors and resellers would need to change their sales pitch to include
line-of-business
managers as well as IT departments, taking advantage of the trend towards integration of voice
and data with business critical applications.

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